Re: Mamiya Cameras importing

[Stan McQueen <stan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:28 PM 06/12/2000 -0400, Geoff wrote:
>Joseph O'Neil wrote:
>
> >         That is, IMO, the whole point.  Come in from overseas with 
> a  camera that
> > is all beat up looking, nobody is goging to question you too closely, but
> > come in with something that looks ands even smells brand new, yes, they
> > probally will question you.
> >         So I guess the moral is, after you buy a  new camera overseas, 
> roll it
> > around int he mud a bit, scuff up the corners with steel wool, and wrap it
> > in a sweaty old shirt on the way back.  :)
>
>     Perhaps I am missing something here, but how about shipping the 
> camera back to
>yourself after purchase overseas rather than trying to carry it through 
>customs?
>
>Geoff

Packages mailed to the US from overseas (and also to overseas from the US) 
are required to have external customs declaration forms attached; as far as 
I know, 100% of these forms are inspected by customs Duties due, if any, 
must be paid before you can receive the package. Furthermore, if you mail 
yourself packages while you are travelling overseas, you can't apply your 
duty free allowance to the packages mailed. That only applies to items you 
are physically carrying with you when you re-enter the US. Somewhat 
different rules apply to members of the Armed Services who are stationed 
overseas and others whose fulltime employment is overseas. This is all 
based on my understanding of the customs regs that they hand out as you are 
preparing to land in the US and on my experience as a traveller. If my 
understanding is incorrect in any of this, I'm sure somebody will correct it.

You can always lie about what's in the package, just as you can try to 
disguise the nature of what you are bringing in, as Joseph suggests. 
However, the Customs Service looks upon this as smuggling contraband and if 
you are caught, you will probably find that the penalties are much more 
severe than just paying the duty would have been.

Stan

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